Last week I was blown away by med students. I spoke at a conference on universal health care, organized by some great medical students at UCLA, and attended by over 100 medical and premedical students from ALL the southern california medical schools. The topic I was asked to speak about was how to be a Universal Health Care activist. Yikes! Umm...i dunno... do you? So I shared some thoughts on where I thought medical students and physicians fit in with the movement, and some ways that medical students are thinking outside the box with creative education and action pieces. And then I turned the 2nd half of the session into a discussion, as there wasn't another place in the conference for discussion and i'm big on reflection. We had a fascinating discussion on taking this information and translating it into further education and meaningful action. What was fascinating was that the conversation turned QUICKLY from that into the specifics of "framing" messages on the topic and it seems the med students in the session really felt that framing was the biggest issue that needed work. These folks were definitely ahead of the game, and that was fun. Inspiring med students rock :>

And these cats aren't stopping there. Way back in September, when I visited a friend of mine in San Francisco, I bumped into a med student at UCSF, Renuka Tipurneni, who shared with me that the California med schools' AMSA chapters were teaming up to pull off a coordinated lobby day event later in the year. And they did it -- at the UCLA conference, Duncan Parker, a med student at UC Irvine, riled everyone up about SB 840, the single-payer healthcare bill sponsored by Cali senator Sheila Kuehl. And from these and other medical students' coordinated efforts (thanks to Vanessa Calderon for putting on the UCLA conference, a number of other med students in Cali organizing these events, and Kao and Chris from the national AMSA office for putting efforts into it too and creating wonderful talking points on the bill), along with endless energy from Don Bechler and others at Health Care for All Cali and folks at California Physicians Alliance, more than 150 medical students are going to Sacramento to lobby on this bill tomorrow! I'm bummed I can't go, I'll be in the medical ICU at the hospital, but I do wish them all luck, and those of us who can't go are awaiting fun photos and stories from the event.

The press release for the event tomorrow is below. Good luck to the med students tomorrow! Whether single payer or other related health care reform, it's great that there's positive movement and by future physicians too. Some say -- as California does, the US follows... let's see :>

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:David A. BrownPhone: 949-241-1935Email: dabrown@uci.edu

MEDICAL STUDENTS TO CONVERGE IN SACRAMENTO, DEMAND HEALTHCARE REFORM

IRVINE, Calif., Jan. 17th, 2006 – The next generation of doctors has a different prescription for the health of California. Alarmed by the growing disparity in healthcare statewide, medical students from all 10 California medical schools will converge on the state capitol from 12-1 PM on Jan. 17th, 2006 to demand an expansion of healthcare access to all Californians.

This gathering will mark the largest ever coordinated effort by California medical students to promote universal healthcare. More than 150 students are expected to demonstrate on the capitol steps, followed by meetings with State Senators and Assembly Members. The event is being organized by local chapters of the American Medical Student Association (AMSA), which is the oldest and largest independent association of physicians-in-training in the United States.

The rally and legislative visits will support a 2005 California State Senate bill introduced by Senator Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica) that proposes to establish the California Health Insurance Agency, which would provide single-payer healthcare coverage to all residents of California. The bill, designated SB 840, passed the State Senate and Assembly Health Committee last year, and will be reintroduced to the State Assembly this year. Senator Kuehl is the keynote speaker at the rally and will address the students at 12 PM.

“That our newest generation of doctors is exhibiting such a strong commitment to universal health care means it is only a matter of time until it becomes a reality,” said Kuehl. “In a system faced with growing numbers of uninsured and medical bankruptcies, as well as rapidly deteriorating quality of care, these future doctors are acting to protect not only their future patients, but also their own ability to practice good medicine. We must listen.”

Now topping over 6.5 million, the burgeoning number of medically-uninsured state residents has sparked widespread activism and legislative action...

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what's "to the teeth"?

To the Teeth is a weblog discussing issues of health justice, medicine, race in America,
public health in its broadest sense, healthcare at a local clinic level, and honest discussions around strategies in advocacy. Ok, so it's not so focused, but it's all connected. The regulars who post to this site are:

and Andru Ziwasimon, a family medicine physician in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and a lead member of the Community Coalition for
Healthcare Access, a diverse group of providers/patients/advocates addressing access issues with the state hospital system, translation and interpretation issues, billing for under and uninsured patients, and other disparities locally.
He created and runs a sustainable and innovative clinic that serves
uninsured patients with quality care and fair prices. He also serves on the leadership of the National Physicians Alliance. (email: aziwa-at-null-dot-net)

They caught the peasant walking home from the field.
On the dark road they gagged him and cut off his nose.
This they took to the museum and stuck to the king's noseless statue.
Thus was born the history that is taught in schools.
- Amitava Kumar, "History"

Willing to Fight

From Ani Difranco's "Willing to Fight":
"'cause i know the biggest crime
is just to throw up your hands
say
this has nothing to do with me
i just want to live as comfortably as i can
you got to look outside your eyes
you got to think outside your brain
you got to walk outside you life
to where the neighborhood changes"

Excerpts of lyrics to Ani Difranco's poem "Self-evident" (hear her recite this poem on her official website:

yes,
us people are just poems
we're 90% metaphor
with a leanness of meaning
approaching hyper-distillation...
here's a toast to the folks living on the pine ridge reservation
under the stone cold gaze of mt. rushmore

here's a toast to all those nurses and doctors
who daily provide women with a choice
who stand down a threat the size of oklahoma city
just to listen to a young woman's voice

here's a toast to all the folks on death row right now
awaiting the executioner's guillotine
who are shackled there with dread and can only escape into their heads
to find peace in the form of a dream

cuz take away our playstations
and we are a third world nation
under the thumb of some blue blood royal son
who stole the oval office and that phony election
i mean
it don't take a weatherman
to look around and see the weather
jeb said he'd deliver florida, folks
and boy did he ever

and we hold these truths to be self evident:
#1 george w. bush is not president
#2 america is not a true democracy
#3 the media is not fooling me
cuz i am a poem heeding hyper-distillation
i've got no room for a lie so verbose
i'm looking out over my whole human family
and i'm raising my glass in a toast

here's to our last drink of fossil fuels
let us vow to get off of this sauce
shoo away the swarms of commuter planes
and find that train ticket we lost
cuz once upon a time the line followed the river
and peeked into all the backyards
and the laundry was waving
the graffiti was teasing us
from brick walls and bridges
we were rolling over ridges
through valleys
under stars
i dream of touring like duke ellington
in my own railroad car
i dream of waiting on the tall blonde wooden benches
in a grand station aglow with grace
and then standing out on the platform
and feeling the air on my face
give back the night its distant whistle
give the darkness back its soul
give the big oil companies the finger finally
and relearn how to rock-n-roll...

subcity

Lyrics from Tracy Chapman's "Subcity"

People say it doesn't exist
'Cause no one would like to admit
That there is a city underground
Where people live everyday
Off the waste and decay
Off the discards of their fellow man

Here in subcity life is hard
We can't receive any government relief
I'd like to please give Mr. President my honest regards
For disregarding me

They say there's too much crime in these city streets
My sentiments exactly
Government and big business hold the purse strings
When I worked I worked in the factories
I'm at the mercy of the world
I guess I'm lucky to be alive
They say we've fallen through the cracks
They say the system works
But we won't let it
Help
I guess they never stop to think
We might not just want handouts
But a way to make an honest living
Living this ain't living

the revolution will not be televised

Lyrics from Gill Scott Heron's "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised"

You will not be able to stay home, brother.
You will not be able to plug in, turn on and cop out.
You will not be able to lose yourself on skag and skip,
Skip out for beer during commercials,
Because the revolution will not be televised.

The revolution will not be televised.
The revolution will not be brought to you by Xerox
In 4 parts without commercial interruptions.
The revolution will not show you pictures of Nixon
blowing a bugle and leading a charge by John
Mitchell, General Abrams and Spiro Agnew to eat
hog maws confiscated from a Harlem sanctuary.
The revolution will not be televised.

The revolution will not be brought to you by the
Schaefer Award Theatre and will not star Natalie
Woods and Steve McQueen or Bullwinkle and Julia.
The revolution will not give your mouth sex appeal.
The revolution will not get rid of the nubs.
The revolution will not make you look five pounds
thinner, because the revolution will not be televised, Brother.

There will be no pictures of you and Willie May
pushing that shopping cart down the block on the dead run,
or trying to slide that color television into a stolen ambulance.
NBC will not be able predict the winner at 8:32
or report from 29 districts.
The revolution will not be televised.

There will be no pictures of pigs shooting down
brothers in the instant replay.
There will be no pictures of pigs shooting down
brothers in the instant replay.
There will be no pictures of Whitney Young being
run out of Harlem on a rail with a brand new process.
There will be no slow motion or still life of Roy
Wilkens strolling through Watts in a Red, Black and
Green liberation jumpsuit that he had been saving
For just the proper occasion.

Green Acres, The Beverly Hillbillies, and Hooterville
Junction will no longer be so damned relevant, and
women will not care if Dick finally gets down with
Jane on Search for Tomorrow because Black people
will be in the street looking for a brighter day.
The revolution will not be televised.

There will be no highlights on the eleven o'clock
news and no pictures of hairy armed women
liberationists and Jackie Onassis blowing her nose.
The theme song will not be written by Jim Webb,
Francis Scott Key, nor sung by Glen Campbell, Tom
Jones, Johnny Cash, Englebert Humperdink, or the Rare Earth.
The revolution will not be televised.

The revolution will not be right back after a message
bbout a white tornado, white lightning, or white people.
You will not have to worry about a dove in your
bedroom, a tiger in your tank, or the giant in your toilet bowl.
The revolution will not go better with Coke.
The revolution will not fight the germs that may cause bad breath.
The revolution will put you in the driver's seat.

The revolution will not be televised, will not be televised,
will not be televised, will not be televised.
The revolution will be no re-run brothers;
The revolution will be live.